Enjoying the brrrr in Baguio

Eilidh in her car seat

The weekend before Easter we ventured out on our first family holiday.  We hired a car and a driver from Viajero Rent-A-Car and set off on our adventure to Baguio.

Baguio is about 240km North of Manila.  The drive, with about 1.5 hours break, took roughly 7 hours.  For the first hour, we were hostage to Manila traffic but after that we flew along the various tollways (NLEX, SCTEX, TPLEX) at a decent speed.  The last hour or so was a windy climb up the mountain road to Baguio.

Everyone I met who had been to Baguio only had positive things to say about it: Baguio's so lovely, the taxi drivers are so honest, the air's so fresh, it's cooler than Manila...  But other than that I didn't really know what to expect.  I was surprised when we first entered Baguio - it's very hilly, and very built up.  But not built up in a Manila-skyscraper kind of way.  Built up in the sense that all the hills seem to have buildings clinging to them.  But there are lots of pine trees and lots of parks too, so it didn't feel stifling (other than in the very busy city centre).  The air is much fresher than in Manila, and it was definitely cooler than Manila is.

View from Chalet Baguio Hotel

We stayed in the Chalet Baguio Hotel, located on Upper Military Cutoff Road.  Another building built into the side of a hill, you enter effectively on the 4th level and a lot of the rooms are on 'Lower Ground' levels.  The best views were from the rooms on the 4th level - below that, whilst you still have windows looking outside you can't see much.  The lower rooms are also loud as the karaoke room (de rigeur for hotels in the Philippines) is on the lowest level.  On our first night we were slap bang right above the karaoke room.  Luckily it didn't go on until 2am, even though it could have done as that was closing time.

Sunflowers in Baguio Botanic Gardens

Whilst in Baguio we explored the Botanic Gardens, Camp John Hay, Wright Park and The Mansion.  It was great to be able to walk around in green open space.  The Botanic Gardens are small, but have lots of pretty plants and flowers.  They are not the most manicured Botanic Gardens I've been to, but people were very happy wandering around.  The terrain is pretty rough, even the paths.  Luckily our buggy has big wheels, and Eilidh seemed to enjoy the 4x4 bumpy ride by going to sleep.

Camp John Hay was a former US Military base, and now has lots of open space, hotels and some shops & restaurants.  We only had a small wander around there as it started bucketing with rain.  We did discover a great restaurant inside Le Monet Hotel where we had lunch on both days we were there.  The seats were more like sofas so Eilidh could lie on the seat between us, which she enjoyed, meaning we could have a relaxing lunch.

The water feature in Wright Park

Wright park is very small, with a long body of water, and at one end, over a main road, there is The Mansion.  The Mansion is the official summer residence for the President of the Philippines.  Maybe they were trying to recreate the Taj Mahal effect of having the building reflecting in the water of Wright Park?  Anyway, it sort of works.  But the water was a very rusty brown colour.  I had someone ask me why it was that colour.  I thought he was going to tell me, but it turns out he didn't know either.  Rust?  Dust?

So it was a good trip, even though the journey there and back was long.  It was refreshing to get out of Manila and great to see another part of the Philippines.


Travel information

We hired a car with driver from Viajero Rent-A-Car:
+63 918 948 21 91
+63 905 288 21 56
+632 836 79 97 / +632 890 01 68
Rm 401-B 4/F RCI Building
Rada Street, Brgy. San Lorenzo
Legaspi Village
Makati City, Philippines
reservations@viajerorentacar.ph
www.viajerorentacar.com
https://www.facebook.com/viajero.carrental

The route from Manila took us on the North Luzon Express Way (NLEX), and then onto the SCTEX (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway), then onto TPLEX (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway), and then the MacArthur Highway onto Kennon Road.  Baguio is well signposted.

We stayed at the Chalet Baguio Hotel (http://www.chaletbaguiohotel.com/)

A healthy weekend

'twas the weekend before Christmas... so we decided to go on a healthy weekend break.  We'd heard about The Farm at San Benito through the Lonely Planet originally and then from friends who mentioned it during our time in Manila.  It's a coconut plantation which has been transformed into a health farm/retreat.  It sounded wonderful, if a bit expensive.  And if I'm completely honest, I never thought that we'd manage a break there.

But, we decided to treat ourselves.  Our options for getting out of the city are becoming more and more limited as the due date of the baby nears.  The Farm is only a drive away.  And it's Christmas, so why not treat ourselves!

We were picked up by The Farm's transport on Friday afternoon.  Traffic was thick getting out of the city, but once we were past the airport the rest of the drive was fairly quiet.  On arrival, we were given cold coconut water with a slice of cucumber - very refreshing.  It was dark, but the whole resort was atmospherically lit, including our room.  We stayed in one of the Sulu Terrace rooms.  On the ground level there is the bathroom and a Thai-style chill out area.  On the first floor, the small but perfectly formed sleeping quarters.

With my big belly and increased need for night-time toilet visits I was a bit wary of the steep steps up to the room.  But, this is where we were to stay so we just compared it to camping and got on with it.  There were no broken bones to report at the end of the trip.

Upon check-in we were reminded that the resort only serves vegan food.  The receptionist was keen to double-check with Mr H that this was ok.  His face must have given away the impression that he couldn't survive 2 nights without meat!

The food throughout our stay (2 dinners, 1 afternoon tea and 2 breakfasts) was very impressive.  I just couldn't believe the variety you could achieve using only vegan ingredients.  The highlights were the chocolate and pecan pie on the first night and the granola for the first breakfast.

The portion sizes are not vast, but if you go for the set menu you can choose between 2 to 5 courses.  On the first evening, we weren't sure we were going to be full, so we ordered some bread.  It was delicious, and it came with 3 spreads (cashew 'butter', pesto and coconut 'butter') but it was rather overpriced for what you got - 300 Pesos (almost £5) for 6 very thin and small slices of bread.

What is there to do at a health farm?  Each day there is a set of activities which you can choose to join, or you can simply find one of the chill-out points around the resort and enjoy the silence doing nothing.  There were 3 yoga classes a day, various other exercise classes, walks around the resort and flower arranging.  We didn't do any of these.  We lay by the pool, or in the chill-out area under our hut and just really relaxed.  I've been having really swollen feet recently, and at the end of the weekend my feet were back to normal size.  It was brilliant.

It was all over too quickly, even though it was nice having 2 nights in a place for a change.  As we headed back to Manila, the air became thicker and smoggier.  But it was wonderful to have fresh, clean air for a whole weekend.

I'd recommend a trip to The Farm, even more so if you can get a good offer.  It's not cheap, but it is very special.

A flying visit to Mactan (Cebu)

Photos from Crimson Resort & Spa, Mactan (Cebu)

Between arriving back in Manila from our UK trip and the baby arriving in February, we had a long period of potentially being 'stuck' in Manila.  December seemed the perfect time to get some weekend breaks in before it would be a bit more difficult to travel (being unable to fly after 35 weeks of being pregnant) or just too risky to be too far away from a hospital.  So we decided to go to Cebu, or more accurately Mactan.

There are numerous flights everyday from Manila to Cebu, and once you get there, there is a good variety of resorts to choose from.  It should be an easy hop, skip and a jump from smoggy city to beach.  If you don't have flight delays of over an hour in each direction.  But we won't let that ruin the trip.

We'd booked in to stay at the Crimson Resort & Spa.  It was delightful from the moment we arrived.  We were greeted with a refreshing welcome drink (I can never tell what's in these welcome drinks, but pandan perhaps in this one?) and then driven in a golf buggy to our room.  The room was a 'Garden Deluxe' and very spacious and luxuriously kitted out.  There was a big opening between the bathroom and the bedroom, but luckily there was also a wooden blind which could be pulled across.

The resort was extremely well kept - neat pathways lined with gardens and trees between all the rooms and the public areas.  3 swimming pools, 4 eating spots, a bit of beach (although all beach on Mactan is man-made) and lots of sun loungers for chilling out on.  The weather was fine, so a perfect break all round.

The only disappointing thing was that we were there for such a short time.  We made the most of this by mostly lying on the very comfortable loungers at the pool bar.  We also had a bit of a dip in the infinity pool at sundown, whilst the resort staff performed a dance symbolising the fishermen coming home after a long day at sea.  

The food at the Azure pool bar and for the breakfast buffet was very good.  We had a little extra entertainment at breakfast too when we spotted a couple wearing matching PJs.

A perfect way to spend 24 hours, and to feel rejuvenated after the smog and craziness of Manila.

5 days in Hong Kong & Shenzhen

At the end of August we had 2 Filipino public holidays quite close to each other - Wednesday 21st August was Ninoy Aquino Day and Monday 26th August was National Heroes Day.  This meant that by taking just 2 days of leave from work, we could have a 5 night trip away somewhere.  We decided to go to Shenzhen and Hong Kong as we have a few friends there, and we had loved Hong Kong on a previous trip.

First stop: Shenzhen.

We were amazed at how easy it was to get to Shenzhen from Hong Kong International Airport.  You simply follow signs for the Sky Pier, buy your ticket, hand over your baggage tags (if you had checked baggage on your flight), and then go to the pier to board.  Someone picks up your bags, and you pick them up when you get to the ferry terminal in Shenzhen (Shekou).

Unfortunately though, we arrived into Shekou at lunch time.  This meant that the visa-on-arrival desk was closed.  You need a visa to get into China.  We had to wait for an hour in the terminal until it opened again.  It was closed from 13:30 - 14:30.  But that aside, it was a seamless process.

We met our friend, Petula and her daughter, Viola, for a late lunch at Gaga (I think).  We had delicious salads and fruity ice tea.  I was so hungry I'd forgotten what I'd ordered and started eating Mr H's salad instead of mine.  Oops.  Both were delicious.

Shenzhen is a new city - developed only in the last 30 years.  The financial district (the very new part) is very well planned and laid out, with some impressive buildings.  Back in 1999/2000 I had spent 6 months in China (Suzhou).  Shenzhen really didn't feel much like the China I remembered from 13 years ago.  This may be because China has changed a lot, and probably because Shenzhen is such a new city.  It still felt different to Hong Kong though.  A bit more 'China' than that.

There isn't a great deal for tourists in the city.  But we enjoyed wandering around - the huge squares (some with line dancing - something which was familiar from my time in China at the turn of the century), the new smells and scenes.  And we did visit one tourist attraction - Window Of The World.  It has replicas of famous landmarks from around the world; some huge, some tiny.  Everything from the Sydney Opera House to the Pyramids to Niagra Falls, the Eiffel Tower etc.  An odd place, but something different!  It was so hot and humid that Mr H had to go and buy a new shirt afterwards!

We ate some great meals whilst in Shenzhen - dimsum in the shape of little piggies and homecooked Chinese food being the highlights.

From Shenzhen we took the train to Hong Kong.  It's an easy ride, which takes about 40 minutes from the Chinese border to Hong Kong harbour (on the Kowloon side).

Hong Kong is a fantastic city - it has a real buzz to it.  On the Kowloon side it feels very Chinese and on the Hong Kong island side it feels very cosmopolitan.  On the first night we ate at a Thai hole-in-the-wall type restaurant in Kowloon Walled City.  For years this area was ruled by gangs, but now it is full of Thai people, restaurants and shops.  The food was so authentic and pretty cheap.  Breakfast the next day was at the Australian Dairy Company.  There was nothing Australian about it.  Another hole-in-the-wall type place, that had a queue of about 40m snaking up the street.  Service is brisk, the food is simple.  But it is truly delicious.  Their specialty is eggs.  Scrambled eggs.  I had scrambled eggs with bread.  The others had macaroni soup + scrambled eggs with bread!

Having been to Hong Kong before we didn't feel a strong urge to go and see lots of touristy things.  Instead we wandered around some of the local department stores and walked along the Avenue of Stars, before heading out for more food.  This time we went to Soho.  It is such a change from what we're used to in Manila - it was thronging with people, spilling out of bars and restaurants.  Such a good atmosphere.  We ate at a Greek restaurant and then went to meet Mr H's friend for some drinks in a few bars.

On our last day we headed down to Aberdeen where one of my cousins, Pablo, lives.  I was expecting it to be a bit more open than Central Hong Kong, but I was wrong - lots of densely packed, high rise apartment blocks.  We jumped on a boat to Lamma island to go and get an early seafood dinner.  A short ride across, and it is totally different to Hong Kong.  Very quiet - just a line of seafood restaurants along the shore.  We chose our fish, had it cooked up and enjoyed our meal with the sun going down over the bay.  A great end to a great trip.